Melorra - Trendy fine jewellery

Decoding Shorts - 2

Which is the first image that comes to our mind when we think of jewelry? Probably, heavy jewelry laced with precious stones usually wore at weddings & festivals. What if that isn't true anymore? As per Technopak Analysis, the demand for everyday jewelry will be $50 bn markets by the end of 2026, growing at a CAGR of 15%. Thanks to the changing trends, Indian women are now opting for light jewelry against traditional ones.

Well, one of the startups driving this change is Melorra. Founded by Saroja Yeramilli – Melorra fits in the jewelry choices of the young women, the Gen Z, and millennial population. After all, when everything is going digital, why should jewelry be in a backseat? We all know that the future is Virtual – rightly indicated by the recent stats. In 2020, India added 1600+ tech startups - becoming the third-largest tech startup hub in the world. Founded in 2016, Melorra leverages technology to revolutionise selling jewelry in India and claims to be the market leader in the online gold jewelry segment.

To begin with, the startup has partnered with India's leading and technically advanced jewelry manufacturers to provide accurate and elegantly designed jewelry by leveraging 3D Technology. The jewelry is available in all shades of gold – yellow, white, and rose embedded with gemstones like ruby, emerald, etc. They adopted the fast fashion model and are called the Zara of jewelry as they design high fashion trend jewelry quickly and sell it mainstream. The company launches almost 75 new designs every week. Their designs are contemporary fashion for occasions like pool parties, office outings, daily wear, etc.

The growth drivers of the online jewelry space depend upon trends like increasing disposable income, an increasing number of women in the workforce, and increased confidence in online shopping, indicating that women's wardrobes will be following global fashion trends. Melorra taps these trends and creates value for its customers.

Melorrais a D2C brand operating on an inventory-free model, which is one of its USPs. Customers choose the designs from the website and only then they start manufacturing customized orders.

They have also ventured into Brick-and-Mortar retail channels by opening their first store in Bengaluru. Melorra plans to open over 350 such centers in the next 5-6 years.

The startup is continuously decreasing its customer acquisition cost with a 4X increase in direct and organic traffic and a 40% increase in average selling price compared to pre-covid levels. This led to an increased contribution margin leading to positive unit economics.

We all are accustomed to shopping for our jewelry from trusted brands. It will be interesting to see how Melorra will disrupt the traditional jewelry business with its unique high scale, high margin, and low Capex business model. Author - Komal Kumari